NEXTLEVEL FIRES 20% IN SATELLITE UNIT, CFO QUITS

The axe has duly fallen at NextLevel Systems Inc, one of three companies spun out of General Instrument earlier this year, and it has fired 225 people, about 20% of its workforce. The company’s chief executive resigned last month amid problems with the company’s satellite data networks business in San Diego, where all the current […]

The axe has duly fallen at NextLevel Systems Inc, one of three companies spun out of General Instrument earlier this year, and it has fired 225 people, about 20% of its workforce. The company’s chief executive resigned last month amid problems with the company’s satellite data networks business in San Diego, where all the current job losses have occurred. The company’s chief financial officer Charles Dickson has now quit to join WinStar Communications Inc in New York as executive VP and CFO, and will be replaced by Eric Pillmore as acting CFO, who is currently the VP of finance and information technology. Various other people below Pillmore have been moved up temporarily to help out. The company’s shares have more or less stabilized since they plunged 28% the day the CEO quit – he has not been replaced yet- and they closed yesterday up $0.0625 at $ 13.00. NextLevel is perhaps best know as having a majority share of the analog cable set-top box markets worldwide.